Pat Symonds: Shaping the future

This year's regulations have given designers their greatest opportunity for innovation in a decade. Renault's Pat Symonds talked exclusively to Adam Cooper about the 2009 rules - and his part in shaping them

The 2009 F1 regulations are like manna from heaven for the sport's top engineers, especially those who, like Renault's Pat Symonds, are charged with seeing the big picture, and allocating R&D resources appropriately. Stable rules lead to ever-diminishing returns and frustration, but major new concepts are always a welcome challenge.

For some teams, the changes represent a one-off opportunity to upset the status quo and close the gap to the pacesetters. Others have more to lose than to gain. Renault are arguably somewhere in between, perhaps leaning towards the latter category.